The 1,407 bottles under the hammer are expected to sell for a total of around four million francs ($4 million, 3.6 million euros), the head of the Baghera Wines auction house Michael Ganne told reporters on Thursday.
Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, which takes its name from its most famous vineyard, is widely considered to be one of the world's finest wine producers.
Stored in perfect conditions for the past 15 years at the heavily-guarded Geneva Freeports customs-free zone, the bottles belong to a single investor who has asked to remain anonymous, Ganne said.
The collection is “unique” and “historic”, he said, explaining that it is extremely rare for more than 100 bottles from the prestigious estate to be auctioned at once.
Seven grand crus produced between 1952 and 2011 at the producer's Romanée Conti, La Tache, Richebourg, Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Grands Echezeaux, Echezeaux, and Montrachet vineyards will be sold off in 266 batches.
The estimates range from 1,600 francs for a 1966 bottle of La Tache to up to 200,000 francs for 12 bottles of an 1988 Romanée-Conti.
Grand crus — literally 'great growth' in French and indicating wine from France's best vineyards — produced by the tiny Domaine de la Romanée-Conti are so expensive largely because they are so rare.
Only 200 bottles are expected to be made there this year, and more than 100,000 people are on a waiting list to acquire a single bottle, Ganne said.
Sunday's auction will also offer up around 3,000 bottles of grand crus from Bordeaux, including an 1848 bottle of Yquem, with an asking price of 15,000 francs, and 12 bottles of a 1982 Petrus that are expected to sell for 45,000 francs.
Bottles of vintage champagne and Cuban cigars will also go under the hammer.
In total, the auction is expected to generate six to nine million francs in sales — more than double what was made at Baghera Wines' first auction last December.
Ganne said the wine auction should be “the most important one over the past two decades in continental Europe”.
But he acknowledged that the market for high-end wines had chilled in recent years, in part due to the economic slowdown in China, home to many of the world's top wine investors.
A recent crackdown by the Chinese government on corruption by banning extravagant gifts like expensive wines to public officials, has also reduced sales, Ganne said.
WINE
Rare wine expected to fetch millions at Geneva auction
More than 1,400 bottles of grand crus from Burgundy's renowned Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wine estate will be auctioned off in Geneva on Sunday in a sale expected to make millions.
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WINE
What is Switzerland’s ‘one franc vineyards’ scheme – and is it legit?
When news broke of vineyards being offered in the southwest of Switzerland for one franc, many asked if it was too good to be true. Here's what you need to know about the scheme (and how much a vineyard will actually cost you).
Updated: 16 June 2022 16:03 CEST
Earlier in Spring, news broke of a new scheme where Swiss vineyards were available for just one franc.
As with similar stories offering one franc plots of land or houses, the news spread far and wide – which of course was the point – while some eventually became disappointed.
READ MORE: Gambarogno: The latest Swiss village to sell houses for one franc
While it’s likely to cost you a good deal more than one franc, if owning a Swiss vineyard (or at least part of it) is on your bucket list, you now have an opportunity to do so.
Why are Swiss vineyards going cheap?
With nearly 5,000 hectares of vineyards and 60 different grape varieties, Valais is Switzerland’s largest wine-growing region.
Unfortunately, 20 percent of the canton’s vines are abandoned and municipalities must uproot them because they can’t find people willing to cultivate them.
A case in point is the community of Savièse, nestled in a picturesque Alpine valley. About 120 plots — four to five hectares — of its vineyards were abandoned by their owners and therefore not harvested last year, as the commune can’t find people to do the work.
This is a serious case of neglect because “when a vine is not pruned, there is a period of one year to uproot it. Otherwise, there is a risk of spreading disease”, according to Savièse’s mayor, Sylvain Dumoulin.
“There are some vines where we need to do this now, and I fear the number will increase in the future”, he added.
How much does a plot cost?
In order to protect its winemaking traditions in general and abandoned plots in particular, the municipality has launched a new vines-saving project which includes a “stock exchange” of sorts for the sale and purchase of abandoned parcels.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: How to drink wine like a Swiss
Dumoulin didn’t reveal the cost of a plot of vineyard, as it depends on its location, condition and other factors.
Unfortunately, while you may have seen articles reporting that parcels are being sold for “a symbolic one franc”, this is more than likely a marketing ploy to attract attention than a realistic price.
Savièse’s vineyards. Screenshot, Savièse.ch
“The main long-term objective is to encourage the grouping of plots and thus the rationalisation of the exploitation of these parcels”, Dumoulin told The Local.
He added that currently the project is “exclusively accessible for people who already own vineyards. But from July it will be open to anyone with an interest in purchasing vineyard areas”.
From then on, “anyone can download the application to find plots of vines for sale and to make their owner a price proposal”.
The app, called “Vignoble Savièse” can be purchased in Apple or Google stores.
One example of such a gimmick was the Ticino town of Gambarogno, located on the shores of Lake Maggiore, which offered houses for one franc.
‘Impossible’: Why Switzerland’s one franc homes are too good to be true
As The Local reported, “the news – along with pictures of the Ticino countryside and the lake itself – spread across the globe, with people inside and outside of Switzerland letting themselves dream”.
However, the “rustic houses with the view of the lake” turned out to be nothing more than ruins, with no roofs, windows, electricity or running water, situated in remote locations — about an hour’s walk from the nearest village.
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